Stay
by Extremely Stupid Napkin
Summary: She wanted him to stay.
1. Stay

**A/N: **Only the general plot is mine, but Akito and Shigure Sohma (along with the rest of the Sohmas) belong to Natsuki Takaya. She imagined the relationship between Akito and Shigure as well and I'm just playing with it… out of boredom. Oh, and clearly Akito is a female in this story. You're also probably wondering, "What the hell is she thinking, submitting two stories in a day? She probably takes no time on them." For the answer, I'd written them a while ago and thought they were mildly acceptable. Woo. Enjoy and review, since I can't know what people think of it if you don't.

**1**

"Shigure!" Akito demanded, and, but a minute later, the man called Shigure scrambled fearfully into the room, hearing his name from quite a distance.

"Yes, Akito?" he asked quietly, kneeling before the woman in front of him.

The woman that had been raised as a male, the woman with a heart as cold as stone. She was the one nobody could get through to. He had been told it was a lost cause to try to socialize with her - that _she_ herself was a lost cause, and yet he remained intrigued by her. Akito. Her thoughts and her logic twisted, but somehow he knew that underneath the cruelty, feeling existed. There was a true heart, somewhere inside.

"I saw you outside," she said simply.

"I don't understand - " Shigure began.

"I saw you outside - " she repeated sharply, " - _with a woman_!"

"Akito, I don't - "

She smacked him before he had the chance to finish his sentence, and he winced from the pain of it.

"Who is she?" she requested, her voice dangerously low. "Tell me who she is."

"I-I don't know," he fibbed.

"Liar!" Akito growled, and grabbed a fistful of his hair in her hand, pulling it forcefully. "Tell me the truth!"

"She's a girl I met at - at school!" he said quickly, and again, he was lying about the last part: he had not, indeed, met the girl at school, but it was irrelevant because Akito seemed satisfied.

Satisfied with his answer, anyway, but not satisfied with his actions.

"_What were you doing with her_?" Akito dictated loudly, tugging heavily at his hair again, "What were you _doing_?"

"We were just walking!" Shigure replied hastily, tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to cry out, 'Let go!' but he knew that Akito would only hold on more tightly.

"I thought you said you were - " Akito began furiously, but Shigure cried out at that precise moment, "Nothing happened, Kito-chan!"

_Kito-chan?_

She let go of him slowly and fell to the floor, and Shigure realized that the mad gleam in her eye was extremely evident. She looked violent, like a bird ready to attack it's prey, a worm positioned in the soil. Shigure gulped, knowing, without a doubt, that _he_ was the worm and Akito the bird. She tucked her fingers under his chin and tilted it upward to look at her face.

"Look at me," she said quietly, forcing him to look her in the eye.

He bit his lip nervously. What was there to say? She was so angry, so horrible… so what was it, he asked himself, what was it that fascinated him?

"You - you disgust me," she snarled, "and you deserve this."

She slashed at his face and he fell forward into a heap on the floor.

"Pathetic!" she yelled, "Just like the rest of them! You're nothing but weak!"

"Akito - " he cried.

"You're going to abandon me, Shigure!" she hollered, "They all are!"

"No one's going to abandon you, Akito!" Shigure found himself yelling now; yelling at _her_ of all people.

"Stop! I don't want_ lies!_" she screeched.

"Akito!" he said loudly, "We love you!"

She was silent for a moment, and then he knew that it had worked. She, Akito, had been touched - somewhere below the surface. When, she tried to remember, when was the last time anyone had said that to her?

The answer came in a quiet, cold voice. _Never._

"We all do," he said, making sure it was coaxing her out of her hostility; the malicious gleam in her eye was faint, very much so.

And what he spotted next to that gleam, he couldn't believe. Had Akito shed a tear? He looked closer, unintentionally drawing his face closer to hers as he did so. And so she had - an unmistakable tear was forming in her eye and he pulled away quickly when it rolled down her cheek.

"Go!" she barked, and Shigure scrambled to his feet.

"Yes, Akito-sama!" he said, bowing before scuttling out of the room. When he was halfway down the hall, however, he heard a small noise coming from the room.

Had he heard it correctly?

"Wait," came Akito's voice.

He walked slowly back into the room, eyes wide when he entered. She was sitting there helplessly, on the floor, and when he looked at her, she gazed back. She still seemed angry, but less so.

"Shigure?"

"Yes, Akito?" he asked, looking at her. He wanted to make sure she wasn't going to snap again, wasn't going to hit him.

_Or mess up my hair,_ he added as an afterthought.

She replied simply, "Stay."

* * *

Well, I hope you liked it. Leave a review, please, or I might not continue with it. I'll admit a failed story when I know that's how it is. It's over dramatic, I know, but you can hardly have Akito in a fic and _not_ have it be over dramatic. Constructive criticism is always nice. -swoon- 

Wait, where did the swoon come from? xD


	2. Always

**A/N:** I found this chapter stashed away deep inside my documents. I think I wrote it last May, seeing as that was the date that went along with the document. I thought I didn't have any more on my computer so that was why I was thinking it might have been a one-shot, but… it's not. Oh, and I'd like to thank phantom and potter Obsession, the first reviewer of this story. x3 Thank youuu. Anyway, on with chapter two.

**2**

She wanted him to stay.

_Why?_ Shigure wondered, but stepped slowly towards the silently weeping figure, knowing that if he didn't there would be consequences. Perhaps he even _wanted_ to get closer. He had no option to consider this longer because she tugged at his sleeve and he looked down.

Those eyes. They were wide with fear - but what was this fear? What could Akito, _God_, fear? The answer came swiftly. Abandonment. She thought - no, she_ knew _- that if the curse were lifted… if the curse were lifted, she'd be alone. She'd always be alone.

Out of pity, the young boy sat next to her on the floor in complete silence. There was nothing to say, nothing to do but sit and stare at each other. Nothing with Akito was ever any more complex than that. Not a thing.

"Shigure," she said after a moment, "Will you stay?"

He paused, and as he was about to answer, she continued with, "If - if the curse breaks, will you stay with me? Will you?"

He was unspeaking and Akito pressed, more violently this time, "_Will you_?"

He smiled sadly at her. "Don't worry," he said, "I will."

"Good," she muttered sourly, keeping her grip on his arm firm.

She wouldn't let him get away this time. She couldn't. Not if she didn't want to be alone. Akito wound her arms around his waist possessively. At that moment, he was hers and she didn't care if he didn't want to be, because she'd always be there. Right by him, like a tear you could never shed. That was Akito. That would be Akito forevermore, clinging to him in much the same way a very small child would hold on to its mother, something Akito had never wished to do.

Something Akito never_ would_ wish to do.

Shigure suspended an arm around Akito's shoulders; quite surely the hostility she had held had evaporated completely. Of course, it would always come back again later. Much later, when Shigure had left, when he wasn't holding her any longer.

"Shigure, when the curse breaks, do you really promise me you'll stay?" Akito asked again.

He nodded. "Always."

"Are you sure?" she asked worriedly.

He smiled. "Stop worrying, Akito-chan."

She lashed out again with, "Why? Why should I stop worrying if all everyone ever does is leave me? When the curse breaks, I'll have no relevance to _any_ of you and you'll leave me here! You're all just going to abandon me, and you won't care!"

"Akito, calm down!"

She hit him again and at that particular moment, Shigure was sure she was crying. He didn't have to get a closer look, didn't have to look into her eye to see the unshed tears. He could feel her shaking slightly, and her face was tucked into the crook of his neck, so he could feel them against his skin.

They sat like that for what could have only been minutes, but to both it felt like hours. He took it into consideration and just as she was about to move he said, "I won't leave."

Intrigued, Akito drew her face away from him. "What?"

"I won't leave," he repeated softly.

_And the curse, _he thought_, it'll never break anyway. _

And so he knew that he was trapped, trapped with Akito and the rest. Somehow, he found it didn't matter.

He would've stayed anyway.

He winked, "And no one else will, either."

"How do you know any of that?" Akito asked brashly.

_I don't,_ he thought.

"Just wait and see," he said, smiling, "You'll know I'm right."

_Er, no you won't, _he continued to think skeptically, but kept the small smile plastered on his face.

"What if they do?" Akito demanded.

"Then I'll still be here," he assured her.

_Uh, will I?_

"Do you really think so?" Akito asked, looking a bit brighter.

"Yes,"

_Not a _complete_ lie, no._

"What about Hatori?" Akito commanded, "Will he leave?"

"He won't."

"How do you know?" she dictated again.

"Because you need him," Shigure concluded. He thought of adding, _'and he needs you', _but didn't, for fear of it sounding melodramatic.

"What about the snake?" Akito said forcefully.

"I don't know," Shigure said truthfully. Ayame was so free-spirited and, ah, flamboyant, not to mention full of his own ideas.

"I want an answer, Shigure!"

"I… I don't think he will,"

Akito frowned.

"He's just too… independent."

_True,_ he told himself, _I'm not lying._

"And Ritsu?"

_Akito, you idiot! Why can't you just let things fall into place instead of asking me about it? I don't _know_, Akito._

That, at least, was what he wanted to say, but calling Akito an idiot, contradicting her like _that_ would be way out of line to the girl.

"Shigure!"

"Yes, " he said, "he'll stay."

If anything he had said it to please her.

"Shigure?" Akito asked again.

"Yes?"

"Shigure, do you love me?"

* * *

Aha, yeah, you know [SPOILERIFICNESS she does ask him that, so it's not my twisted imagination just deciding to throw that in. [/Spoilerificness Review, please? xD I'll give you a cupcake!

... Or will I?


	3. Snow

**A/N: **I don't own Furuba.

**3**

"_Shigure," Akito asked, "Do you love me?"_

_He had thought for a moment, unsure of his answer. There she was, so blunt, so weepy, and so in need of someone, anyone. And he merely looked her over, unclear on his feelings for her. Finally, he spoke._

"_Yes."_

And now he was in the hallway of Sohma House, wandering to the window. Snow was scattered across the previously green grass, and the once gray walkways were covered thickly in the white flakes. Shigure was tempted to go outside and venture around in the snow with Ayame and Hatori, but knew Hatori would disapprove because he could catch cold and that Ayame wouldn't want to ruin his clothing. And Akito… well, Akito was a different story. She would never come out of her room, much less frolic merrily through the snow with a gleeful pervert of sorts.

His encounter with Akito the preceding hour was irrelevant just now. He felt light-hearted, content, and what he had said to her didn't seem to have any impact on his actions. Shigure, in fact, was not even paying Akito any thoughts. Foolishly, he had said he loved her and dismissed it as though it was nothing, as though Akito wouldn't remember. Didn't he know that Akito remembered everything? Didn't he know that Akito could tell when people were lying? Didn't he, the idiot, didn't he understand that Akito knew he hadn't been lying?

Shigure didn't know what he had been getting himself into, and at that moment he didn't care, because Ayame had come striding down the hall. Shigure was ready to pounce on his friend, but he suddenly spotted a newspaper tucked under Ayame's arm and decided he knew where his companion was going.

But what did that matter? Irritating Aya was always fun. "Oh, Aya!"

Aya frowned, muttered, "I have to take a wee!" and closed the bathroom door in Shigure's face.

_Better luck next time, then,_ Shigure thought to himself, and resumed his staring at the snow.

Today was so quiet - it always seemed to be when it snowed. Perfectly silent, and everything was still except for the slowly descending flakes. They fell while everyone watched the ground slowly become blissfully white. Snow, Shigure decided then, was certainly a sign of peace.

Certainly. And then -

"How dare you!"

"It wasn't my fault!"

A crack, and then a sob was what Shigure heard. Dare he wander nearer?

"The curse _broke_!" was what Akito yelled next, "Get everyone in here, Kureno, and make sure it's not true!"

_What?_ Shigure thought to himself, nervous at this point. What was Akito going to do? Hit them? Scratch them? Kill them? Or worse - maybe she'd mess up their hair!

What was he doing, standing around like this? If Akito was angry, and he knew it, wasn't it better to make a nice impression? He scuttled to Akito's room (or her dungeon, as he liked to think of it), and poked his head through the door.

"Akito-chan?"

She looked up, the mad glint from before back in her eyes, more apparent than Shigure could ever remember. "Shigure?"

"Hai," he replied.

She was silent, and then she said, "Did Kureno summon you?"

"No, Akito-chan," he said, "I heard you yelling."

Shigure bowed his head.

"And so you came to pry?" Akito said angrily.

"I-I heard you were summoning everyone," he said, and tried not to look her in the eye, for he now remembered what they had done before, and it stood out more clearly in his mind than anything else.

"Eyes, Shigure!" she commanded, and he was forced to do just what he had been dreading.

"A-Akito, I heard you say the curse broke," he confessed, bowing his head even more so.

"You heard right, then. Kureno came - and he told me…" she said, "He said a girl had fallen into him and he hadn't transformed. Do you know what that _means?_"

_Why would he _tell_ her?_

_Better not to keep a fact from Akito, _reminded a voice in the back of his head. Silently, he agreed with it.

"Yes."

"It means the curse broke, Shigure!" Akito cried hysterically.

He was tempted to say_'I don't see the problem with that, Akito-chan!' _or maybe _'You're repeating yourself!'_, but bit his tongue to keep from spilling it out, as he knew they were the wrong choice of words, especially with Akito.

"Oh," he said simply.

"And Kureno has already tried to leave, I can tell! I can sense it!" she said, growing more frantic by the moment.

_Not this again!_ Shigure thought, panicked.

"No one else is going to leave," he reassured the girl.

_I really should stop doing this to her._

Nevertheless, he sat down on the floor, giving her 'eyes', as she had wanted, as she had demanded. What was he to say next? Something, anything, it had to be truthful; he couldn't lie to her, he didn't _want_ to lie to her.

"Akito," he repeated, "You're not alone, not like you think you are."

_How much is it going to take to penetrate that horribly narrow mind of hers?__  
_

He twirled a loose lock of her hair around his finger, winding it around and then unwinding it repeatedly. The young girl remained silent, staring at Shigure with wide, bloodshot eyes. He could tell she had been lamenting throughout the day, and knew he had been present for most of it. Even when she had been yelling at Kureno-kun, Shigure could sense her voice wavering, ever so slightly. Akito was not one to cry openly.

"Shigure," she muttered, "I can't do this."

Just then, as he looked at her face, and reached out to stroke her cheek, he knew that the girl really was breaking.

**A/N: **Now, this chapter I really wrote just a while ago. The other two I had found on my computer, but this is an exception. I think I only really got as far as the second chapter anyway, and I really don't mind rewriting it. xD Review, please? It's odd how this story is meant to be... coughangstycough but... I'm always happy while writing it.


	4. Calm

**A/N: **As you can see, I'm updating regardless of reviews. xD; I really only want this story up here for people to see it, and I enjoy writing it. If people like it, then they can review but it's not necessary for me, I'll continue with it anyway. Oh, and I thought I'd clear it up that Shigure's thoughts are the only ones we'll hear throughout the entire story unless it's been indicated that someone else has thought it.

I don't own Fruits Basket.

**4**

"Shigure?" Akito asked in lachrymose, "What if I hadn't been born who I was?"

"What do you mean?" Shigure asked, furrowing a brow.

"What if I wasn't… me?"

"Then I wouldn't be here right now," he concluded.

"What if I wasn't… 'God' of the Zodiac?" she questioned furthermore, limp against his figure.

"Akito, there isn't any time for what-ifs, you can't wonder what it would've been like, because it won't be like that."

_Dense girl, _Shigure thought, observing her.

"But I have to wonder!" Akito said, "There's so much I could've done if I hadn't made all of those mistakes and - and I never forgave anyone!"

"To err is human, to forgive divine," Shigure said solemnly, bowing his head.

"There's so little time, Shigure, and I can't fix anything!"

"Relax," he said, looking her square in the eye, "You sound like you're on your Death Bed."

Her laments began to recede and she simply sat there. Her childish mentality was showing more than ever now that Kureno's curse had broken; and what if everyone else's had as well? What would Akito do then? Shigure shook his head.

_No more what-ifs._

He simply held her nearer, a brow raised as he stared at the ceiling.

"Akito, you should really stop worrying about everything, you know," Shigure said, sighing, "You're only going to drive yourself crazy. Not everyone will leave you."

"Shigure, you don't know anything!" she replied, just as stubbornly as she had before; and Shigure couldn't help but wonder.

Was the girl going to do this for the remainder of her time? Was she going to waste away in fear of being alone? Was she going to simply sit there and wither, hoping she'd never be abandoned? With that mentality, he reminded himself, some people might just leave her.

"Akito," he said suddenly, standing up, "Come with me. Please."

She stood up slowly. "Shigure, where are we going?" she asked, curiosity evident in her voice.

"You'll see, Akito-chan," he said, grabbing her hand and leading her to the window he had been staring out of prior to being called into the room by her.

Her lips parted when she saw it in question; why, after all, had he brought her to a window? She had seen snow before, many times so.

"Do you know what that is?"

"Snow," Akito replied.

She drew herself closer to the window and let go of his hand, looking out at the white substance covering the ground, the walkways, filling the bare trees. "But, Shigure, what does it mean?"

He cocked his head to the side and said, "You're just going to have to find that out yourself, aren't you?"

"Shigure, I don't get you," Akito grumbled, looking at the snow.

He merely smiled at her: he had calmed down, and that was what he had wanted. A calm Akito… the _real_ Akito. He had wanted to see her true heart, as he had always thought of it. Maybe today.

"Come on," he said, clutching her hand in his again and guiding her outside.

When outside, they solely stood in the ankle-deep snow, and still Akito was trying to comprehend where Shigure was going with all of it. He looked at her face, and she appeared confused, tense - what was he going to do? When?

"Snow…" Akito muttered, and she raised her fingers to her lips, biting a nail plainly. "Shigure… are you trying to tell me something?"

He looked down at her (for she was considerably shorter), and nodded, a faint trace of a grin on his lips. "Of course."

She studied the snow in the silence, and after a while she asked, "Shigure… am I… cold? Like - like snow?"

_Yes._

"Just look further. Listen for sounds," Shigure said, evading her difficult question with ease.

"I don't hear any," Akito informed him.

He didn't say anything in response to that; and so they stood, almost knee-deep in snow now, very close, very cold. But Shigure was warm still, so Akito kept herself near to him, hoping to stay snug. She hadn't even gotten the time to put a coat on, and it must've been below zero…

"Are you cold?" Shigure asked, practically reading her mind.

She nodded, and all he could do (for he hadn't gotten his coat either) was drape an arm around her.

"Have you gotten it yet?" he asked.

"The value of silence?"

"You're closer."

"… Calm?"

He caught her gaze and she knew she was right that time; but what did it mean? Why was he telling her this? Was it really relevant to her?

"Why is that important?" she snapped.

"Because, Akito-chan," Shigure said, "It's what you need to be, for everyone."

"W-what do you mean?"

"What everyone here wants is someone who is forgiving, calm about their actions," he explained, "Someone who doesn't overreact."

… _Or mess up peoples' hair…_

She was silent.

"If you can try to do that, just a bit, to forgive people and not lash out at them," Shigure said, "No one will leave you."

_Not that Akito will ever change, _said a small voice in the back of his head.

_I can always try, and while I have the chance, why not?_

She said nothing, and he looked down at Akito's face, her cheeks red now from the cold.

She was quiet for a while, standing there and watching the flakes fall slowly onto the ground, holding his hand while saying nothing.

"Well," he said, "What do you think?"

It took her a moment before she said, "Ok."

I really think they seem out of character in this chapter. xD; Let me know if they do in a review and I'll consider rewriting it. This chapter sort of took a turn for itself, I actually didn't mean for it to be like this. I guess the story has a mind of its own.

Review?


	5. Author's Note

**A/N:**

xD Sorry, I'm having wayyy too much writer's block at the moment to update again. It probably won't be up (the next chapter, so to speak) until Saturday or so. Christmas shopping and all that, you know. At any rate, if you could, perhaps some of you could review while you're bored? xD Yay.

I might also need suggestions; if anyone has any, tell me, perhaps in a review or… some other magical way because you're magical and all.

Oh, and while I'm not writing a portion of the story or anything, I'll say this to get it out of the way for the rest of the story because I really do not feel like writing it every chapter. I know it's not much of an effort, but… being that I'm lazy, yeah, you know.

I don't own Fruits Basket or any of its characters, so the disclaimer is of the essence if I don't want my ass sued. They're not mine. YukiKyoShigureShishouKurenoAkitoTohruKisaHiroAyameHatoriandalltherestofthem aren't mine. D:

Happy holidays to everyone as well. Bye… for… now. Oo


	6. Author's Note Again

HOLY CRAP I DIED

HOLY CRAP I DIED.

I think I might end the story off like that, because frankly, I'm lacking inspiration and all. But uh, at least you've gotten a sign of life?

OH JOY. Anyway, uh, I'll be debating whether or not to end it there. Thanks for all your reviews, guys! 3

EXTREMELY STUPID NAPKIN LUFFS YOU.


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